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SHA-256
SHA-256 is a hash function: it turns any data into a fixed 256-bit fingerprint, usually written as 64 hexadecimal characters. The same input always gives the same fingerprint, any change gives a different one, and the input cannot be worked out from the output. Bitcoin uses it to link blocks and in mining.
What it means for you. Bitcoin block hashes and transaction IDs, the strings you paste into a block explorer, are SHA-256-based. The last word of a seed phrase partly encodes a SHA-256 checksum, so a phrase with one wrong word usually fails a wallet's check instead of quietly opening a different, empty wallet.
Sources: NIST FIPS 180-4: Secure Hash Standard, NIST IR 8547 (initial public draft): Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards, Bitcoin developer reference: block chain · checked 4 October 2026
Keccak-256
Keccak-256 is the hash function Ethereum uses throughout: it turns any data into a fixed 256-bit fingerprint. It is the original Keccak design that won the US SHA-3 competition, which differs slightly from the final SHA-3 standard, so the two give different outputs for the same input.
What it means for you. Your Ethereum address is the last 20 bytes of the Keccak-256 hash of your public key, and the mix of upper- and lower-case letters in an address is a Keccak-based checksum. A tool labelled SHA-3 will not reproduce Ethereum's hashes, so a mismatch there does not mean an address is wrong.
Sources: NIST FIPS 202: SHA-3 Standard, Ethereum Yellow Paper, ethereum.org: Ethereum accounts · checked 4 October 2026